Geniza Lab

Calendrical text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Calendar, beg. מחזר ר̇ס̇א̇, continued on Bodl. MS heb. f 56/4–5. There is also the text of Exodus xx. 12-26 in shorthand writing. (Information from Bodleian catalog.)

Chancery or fiscal document, presumably Mamluk period. There are two lines preserved, consisting of a date (the month Rajab is visible) and the ḥamdala. The text was folded down the middle to form a bifolio and reused for notes on the Jewish calendar, a roster for the years starting with 1275/6 until the mid-fourteenth century. But the roster contains errors, such as parts of the sequence that are repeated. There are also jottings, including a biblical quotation. (Marina Rustow, with information on the calendar roster from Sacha Stern)

Calendar (astronomical/agricultural) for Eygpt for four of the Coptic months (Hātūr, Kiyāk, Ṭūba, and Amshīr), also giving the names of the corresponding Gregorian months (in Arabic). At the top of the one page the year 1090, presumably Hijri, is named (1679/80 CE). (To read this as the Coptic year would yield an implausible date in the 14th century CE.) At the top of the other page, someone named Riḍwān Effendi is named. Most of the entries seem to be recurring events: "wheat is planted," "the south winds blow," "the planting of the poppy," "the beginning of the lawāqiḥ," etc., but one of them (the first entry under Ṭūba) reads, "the lifting of the plague (wabā') in Miṣr."

Substantial fragment of an elaborate, calligraphic calendar, in Hebrew, giving corespondences between the Hebrew and Islamic calendars. A year does not appear anywhere, but it is quite late, probably 18th or 19th century. At the bottom there is a comment on the (level of?) the Nile on the 2nd of Tammuz, as well as a prayer for agricultural prosperity in the coming year.

Calendrical calculation. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Booklet made of parchment, containing a calendar for the maḥzors 256 and 257, each year written on a separate little scrap. Beginning with 1095 CE. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

An interesting Qaraite legal testimony (zikhron ʿedut) dated 20 Adar 5442 (1682 CE), scribed and signed by Avraham ha-Rofe ben Ṣaʿīr, one of the messengers sent from Jerusalem with news of the barley crop (aviv), together with Mordechai b. Ḥayyim ha-Kohen. As the barley was fully mature, the coming year, a leap year for the Rabbanites, will not be intercalated for the Qaraites. Messengers have been sent both to Damascus and to Fustat. The writer notes that, for the first time "in a long time," this means that the calendars of the Rabbanites and the ʿarelim (western Christians? Muslims?) have coincided, while the calendars of the Qaraites and the Franks and Maronites have coincided. The term ʿarelim, or uncircumcised, normally refers to Christians in earlier Geniza documents. However, in this context, the ʿarelim are being contrasted with the Franks and Maronites, so the writer is either drawing a distinction between western and eastern Christians, or between Christians and Muslims. ASE

Calendar. Giving conversions between various calendars, including Julian/Gregorian. Verso: Accounts (or grocery list?) in Judaeo-Arabic. Firewood, spices, salt, . . . , raisins, sesame, eggs.

Letter in Hebrew narrating the trouble caused by Ben Meir including quoting at length a letter sent by the elders. Entered in Geniza collection as an independent manuscript (in 2017, citing Alder) and as the second folio of the most extensive text witness of the Book of the Calendar Controversy (in 2021, citing Stern).

Manuscript of the Book of the Calendar Controversy, about the disagreement between Jewish leaders of Palestine and Babylonia on how to calculate the calendar year in 921/2. This led the Jews of the entire Near East to celebrate Passover and the other festivals on different dates over the course of two years. Four folios of this text are extant, ENA 2555.1, T-S 10K3 (one side only), T-S NS 175.57 (one side only), and ENA 2556.1. Stern concludes that these folios are discontinuous elements of the same manuscript and supposes their sequence from textual parallels in other manuscripts of the Book of the Calendar Controversy. Scribe changes throughout the manuscript appear random and change the style of script (round, square, compact, etc.). The evident involvement of several scribes in the production of this single manuscript suggests a commercial enterprise in which a team of scribes was employed to produce books, and where the books being copied were passed around the team at the convenience of the scribes’ individual work schedules. Its hasty, somewhat sloppy production by a team of scribes suggests that it was intended as a cheap, ‘budget’ copy, for circulation among a broader, private readership. (See Stern pp. 166-170 for discussion regarding the scribal hands.)

Account in Hebrew of the Ben Meir controversy. Calendrical discussion

A Karaite (specifically Tustari) post festum calendar listing the dates of the new moons (by observation) for the years 1357–59 Seleucid, corresponding to 1045–48 CE. Edited by Gil in his book on the Tustaris. Cf. T-S NS J609, a similar calendar from ~5 years later. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Calendar. In Hebrew script.

Calendar list/calculations (FGP). In Judaeo-Arabic.

Literary work containing Hebrew poetry and a section on the calendar including for the years 5923–78 AM, which corresponds to 1142–1218 CE. The hand is Sefaradi. There are two different colophons in two different hands (the first may be identical with the hand of the main text, but it is more stylized). The first gives the location as Fustat and the date as Tammuz [4]9[.]6 AM, perhaps Tammuz 4926 AM, which would be 1166 CE. The second mentions Alexandria and gives the year 1481 Seleucid = 566 AH, which is 1170 CE.

Calendar. in Hebrew.

Calendar in Judaeo-Arabic. Including the date 1429 Seleucid, which is 1117/18 CE.

Calendar in Judaeo-Arabic. Including the date 4924 AM, which is 1163/64 CE.

Literary. Astronomical or calendrical work in an unusual mixture of Arabic (in Arabic script) and Hebrew.